1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for searching for data in a plurality of applications, windows or data sets and using that data to bridge to, activate or open another application, window or data set.
2. Description of the Related Art
Each year there is an increase in the amount of computer automation for the home and office. Typically, these increases occur in discrete software applications that are specific to a desired goal or objective. For example, there are individual applications for billing, payroll, word processing, time keeping, inventory tracking and personal organization. Each of these applications can be implemented and distributed by a different vendor and loaded onto a single computer.
User applications typically share compatibility and operability with an operating system that controls the computer. Typical examples of operating systems are Windows 95(trademark), Windows 98(trademark), Windows 2000(trademark) and Windows NT(trademark) available from Microsoft Corp., Linux(trademark) available from Red Hat, OS/2 available from IBM Corp. and the Apple Macintosh Operating System available from Apple Computer, Inc. Thus, each application installed onto the computer must be able to run on the operating platform supporting the computer.
Operating Systems available today allow a user to have more than one (1) application running (loaded or open) simultaneously. This is also called multi-processing. Before opening (or launching) and application it is in an xe2x80x9cunloadedxe2x80x9d state, stored in permanent or long term storage/memory. When an application is xe2x80x9claunchedxe2x80x9d it becomes the xe2x80x9cactivexe2x80x9d application. If another application is launched, a loaded and active application remains loaded, but becomes xe2x80x9cinactivexe2x80x9d. Thus, multiple applications may be loaded and xe2x80x9crunningxe2x80x9d at any one time. However, unless the computer has multiple processors (CPUs), only one application is actually xe2x80x9cactivexe2x80x9d at a time.
One problem many users face when using a plurality of applications, windows or data sets is switching between the various applications, windows or data sets running simultaneously. For example, suppose a user is obtaining data about a patient from a practice management application in a doctor""s office and wants to look at that patient""s digitally stored x-ray images. The user must open or re-activate the x-ray image application, window or data set; enter some search term that designates that patient; and wait for the application, window or data set to return with that patient""s x-ray images in the appropriate window. Thus, even though the user has the patient""s identifying data in the practice management application he/she is viewing, the user must open or activate the x-ray imaging application, and must then enter a query to locate and obtain the window containing the desired data. These additional unnecessary operations can be time-consuming if the employee is processing multiple patients per day.
The burden of having to manually enter data when the required data is available to the user in another window, application or data set is compounded when certain applications, windows or data sets require multiple pieces of data. For example, some applications, windows or data sets require both a name and a social security number in order to distinguish between patients who have the same name. In this example, the different social security numbers distinguish between the files of these two patients and their respective related information. Thus, even if a user is viewing a particular patient""s profile in a patient management application and has the patient""s social security number on screen, the user will still be required to type in the social security number, in addition to the patient""s name, in the other desired application like an x-ray imaging application. Some Windows(trademark) programs allow a user to xe2x80x9ccut-and-pastexe2x80x9d information from one window to another. However, this method is time consuming when several fields of data need to be re-entered.
There is also a need to open a plurality of files across a plurality of applications, windows or data sets in a network environment. In such a network environment, a first user could open one window in one application where that one window contains data useful to a plurality of other users in the network. The other users could access that data from the one window in the one application and use it to open other windows in other applications via a single click of a mouse button, instead of being forced to click on a plurality of boxes and/or type in the needed key data to open a file.
In addition, in either a single PC operation or a network operation, there is a need for a user to integrate a new application, window or data set with existing applications, windows or data sets. In this manner, a user may purchase a new application and use the present invention to integrate the data residing in files in an existing application, window or data set to create new files in the new application, window or data set.
The present invention is designed to overcome the problems relating to searching for and inputting data in a plurality of applications, windows or data sets by providing a method that bridges between two or more applications, windows or data sets. The present invention accomplishes this bridging by searching for specific data amongst a plurality of applications, windows and data sets, and uses that data to activate one or more target applications, windows or data sets with that data. These objectives, among others, are achieved by means of a computer-implemented method for bridging applications, windows or data sets comprising obtaining search criteria, obtaining data associated with a data set, comparing the data with the search criteria, extracting additional data from the data set if a match is determined, and passing the additional data to an application.